Thursday Pick & Mix

Hello, and welcome back to An Eddying Flight, Dear Readers! Today's post is coming to you just one day after my return from my first ever in-real-life academic conference, where I presented my first ever conference paper (eeep!).

I've done a post on writing this paper here and I'll probably do a follow-up post discussing my experience at the conference and what I've learned, as a non-traditional/mature student, from delivering a formal presentation, next month. But for the moment, just between you and me? I am exhausted. My brain is goo.

If you, like me, are feeling a tad tuckered out and are perhaps struggling to pick up the threads of work that you needed to lay aside - for professional or personal reasons - then today's Pick & Mix is for you. There is no better way to refresh a tired mind than some pure, joyful creativity. So instead of continuing to stare blankly at a blank page, join us! Take ten minutes out of your day. I can promise that it will be worth it.

A quick reminder of the 'rules' (feel free to cheat, of course, it's whatever works for you):

You own the next ten minutes. Set your timer but don't put it somewhere that you can see it or stress out over it. Pick up your pen, open up your word processing programme. View the waiting blank page as a friend you are about to get to know better.

Pick a prompt. Any prompt. Mix two, or three - or, if something else occurs to you, go with that instead. We are not the prompt police. Do what makes you happy.

Remember not to waste your ten minutes or your imaginative energy editing or revising. Put a piece of paper over the lines as you write them, set your font to the same colour as the page so that it's invisible. We don't care about spelling, awkward phrases, punctuation or typos. Grammar? We don't know her.

When you've finished, save your work, close your notebook - and walk away. You don't need to re-read this writing, assess it, fix it. That's not what it's for. It's about joy, not results. If/when you do read it again, make sure that you do so in a spirit of curiosity and interest, but without expectation. Then, if it turns out to be a deathless piece of prose, that's a lovely bonus.

Got it? Great! Then onto the prompts!

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WORDS

Devoted to dogs

Good luck, and may the writing gods speed your words! I wish you joy.